


Somehow

by DontForgetToPanic



Series: 30 Minute Fics [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 10:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontForgetToPanic/pseuds/DontForgetToPanic
Summary: After all, everyone’s got to cope somehow.





	Somehow

“They’re out. Dan, they’re out.”

“Mate, there’s a whole case of ChapStick, just grab one so we can get the fuck away from here,” Dan yells, voice accented by the crunch of the zombie skull he just upper-cut with a wooden bat.

“We have to go somewhere else, they’re out,” Phil repeats, calm, determined. 

Dan hits the zombie one more time to make sure he killed (re-killed?) it before moving back to Phil’s side, face splattered with second-hand blood and eyes cold, piercing. Phil feels a sharp prick of fear before he shakes it off, remembering Dan’s the most gentle, awkward person he’s ever met.

Skilled zombie killing aside.

“There’s a bunch of ChapStick right there,” Dan says, bumping his shoulder against Phil as the dry summer air swirls around them.

“Only red,” Phil says, resigned, “I need the blue one, the red makes my lips sting.”

“Your lips are already bleeding, Phil, anything should be better,” Dan points out, but he doesn’t press, instead retreating to the back of the store to search for embroidery yarn to make bracelets. Phil’s not exactly sure why he still makes them, given the fact that it’s been months since they’ve last seen someone living and Phil and Dan already have every centimeter available on their arms covered with Dan’s bracelets. It doesn’t matter, Phil thinks, Dan probably makes them to keep his hands busy. Everything feels okay as long as you're busy.

After all, everyone’s got to cope somehow.

 

 

_“I bet you were going to school to be a lawyer; you have that lawyer-like resting face,” Phil says one night, a few weeks after they got together.  They’re on their backs outside, shoulders pressed together and stars the only source of light._

_“What?” Dan asks, turning his had to watch as Phil sits up a bit so he's hovering partly over Dan. Once certain Dan can see him, Phil twist his face into a frown, eyebrows furrowed and shoulders dramatically hunched._

_Dan surprises himself when he bursts out in laughter because it's weird, hearing his own laughs after so long. He knows Phil’s exaggerating but regardless, it’s a good imitation of post-Sickness Dan._

_Dan wanted to be a musician, but he doesn’t tell Phil that.  Instead he sticks his tongue out and asks if Phil always wanted to be a pain in his ass or if it was a recent aspiration._

 

 

“Come on, it’s a drug store they _have_ to have your ChapStick here,” Dan whines.  It’s their fifth store in two days—or six zombie kills depending on how they measure time.  Phil’s got the bat this time, Dan now holding a five-iron close to his chest, eyes predatory, searching for threats.  Phil’s less cautious, heading straight to the display case near the rusted checkout aisle and leaves Dan to look for non-perishables.  A quick survey of the display reveals black medical ChapSticks and red strawberry ones, and Phil’s hands are shaking as he searches for the blue kind, checking the back of each row hoping a blue got mixed in somewhere.

He’s about to give up, tell Dan that they’ve got to go to another store when he sees it, a glimmer of lifesaving blue, the most beautiful color he’s ever seen. His breath catches as he pulls it out, the single blue ChapStick hidden behind a row of red. 

Phil’s fingers are numb when he rips off the wrapper and yanks the cap off. He relishes in his little victory as he holds the ChapStick up near his lips, letting the medical smell filling his lungs.  This feels better, he decides, better than last week when he made them travel through three states to find Ghirardelli Chocolate. Better than the month before when they somehow ended up in Mexico looking for a Diet Coke _specifically_ packaged in a glass bottle.  This ChapStick, right here, this is what he needs. Everything will be alright now.

Phil’s breath is shallow and his hand shaking, right about apply it to his lips when he hears a distinct _thud_ behind him.

 

 

Phil was never athletic, but he used to play tennis with Martyn who, if the world hadn’t fallen to apocalyptic shit, would’ve gotten an athletic scholarship to any university he wanted.  Now he doesn’t get to play at all, because Phil’s whole family was in Florida when The Sickness started.  No one made it out.

 

 

Now Phil’s body channels his inner tennis player and reacts before his head can catch up, already swinging his bat around towards the threat behind him. His bat catches the center of the zombie’s forehead, a sickening crunch ringing through the store, and he hits it one more time in the same place before it has a chance to move.  A horrid, grotesque sound erupts from the creature, gurgling up blackened sludge and expelling through its nostrils and mouth. Phil’s screaming as he smacks it one more time over the head, hard enough to snap its jaw and unhinge its neck, the head now mostly detached from its shoulders.

He’s panting when Dan comes reeling around the corner.

“Are you okay?” Dan asks, breathless, concerned. Phil’s about to answer when he notices something sticking out from under the zombie’s shoulder, a light glimmer of blue in the middle of the black pool of pseudo-blood. Phil double checks his hands and realizes he must have dropped his ChapStick during the tussle.

It’s sudden, Phil’s laughter, and when it comes it floods all his senses, laughs erupting so hard his side hurts and lungs burn.  Dan stands frozen, watching Phil double over in hysteria, tears of laughter prickling the corners of his eyes. Phil motions for Dan to look down at the bloodied ChapStick. 

“Was that the last one?” Dan asks, resigned, and Phil nods.  He’s still laughing through the tears, scared if he stops the tears might fall for a different reason, tears not for the ChapStick but for the family he lost, the friends he lost, the future he lost. 

“It’s okay, we’ll keep looking, we’ll find it,” Dan says, throwing an arm around Phil’s shoulders. They head towards the front door together, planning their next destination in their search for the blue ChapStick.  They’ll feel so much better once they finally find the ChapStick, because once they find it everything’ll be okay.

After all, everyone’s got to cope somehow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr if you want <https://dontforgettopanic.tumblr.com/>


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